Sheldon, Iowa mixed use project (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids: apartments, how much, hotels)

[IAresident32]

An 120 acre mixed use development is the works for Sheldon, Iowa. Plans call for a 400,000 sq ft, open-air retail outlet center, two 100+ room hotels, several new restaurants, and up to 300 apartments. Plans also call for an un-named 180,000 sq ft big box store.


This is big news for this small northwest Iowa town of about 5,000 population. Other projects in the works is a large truck stop, a new sports complex, a new community park, an events center, and a new Bomgaars store which will be one of the company's largest.

[Nobodybody]

Originally Posted by IAresident32

An 120 acre mixed use development is the works for Sheldon, Iowa. Plans call for a 400,000 sq ft, open-air retail outlet center, two 100+ room hotels, several new restaurants, and up to 300 apartments. Plans also call for an un-named 180,000 sq ft big box store.


This is big news for this small northwest Iowa town of about 5,000 population. Other projects in the works is a large truck stop, a new sports complex, a new community park, an events center, and a new Bomgaars store which will be one of the company's largest.

How is this a viable project for such a rural area?

[duster1979]

It's not, considering the current 77 acre industrial park development has hardly anything in it at this point.

[IASheldonOrab193]

Sheldon was selected for the outlet center because of it's location at the intersection of two busy highways and Sheldon is far enough away from Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Worthington, and Spencer to have retail outlets stores. Many retail companies will not open an outlet store with 25 to 50 miles of their regular retail stores.


This development will create a lot of jobs in Sheldon and will pull in big dollars from out of town as well as out of state. The hotels and restaurants are definitely needed here. The big box store, most likely Walmart will be a welcomed addition here, and we definitely have a shortage here of good housing, so the apartments will probably fill up fast. Last I have heard, the development will have anywhere from 50 to 70 retail outlets.

[funksoulbro]

This sounds very similar to the Tanger Outlet that was built in the early 1990s halfway between the Quad Cities and Des Moines on I-80. There's no doubt that mall has been a huge boost to Williamsburg's economic outlook. Unfortunately, Sheldon lacks direct access to a major interstate highway, so I'm not sure it would attain the same level of success enjoyed by Tanger in Williamsburg. The traffic count on US-18/IA-60 is going to be a mere fraction of what is currently found on I-80.

Additionally, most of the traffic on those highways is of a local origin, as opposed to the trans-national dynamic of America's preeminent East/West thoroughfare. Shoppers in Sioux City and Sioux Falls may not provide enough of a base to keep a large outlet mall going strong. Worthington and Spencer are even smaller areas, barely qualifying as micropolitans. It's difficult to see how there's enough surrounding population to support a project of this magnitude.

[atler8]

^^ Good analysis of the situation above. ^^ I have many of the same thoughts.
Sheldon lies on the eastern boundary of Sioux County which, at 35,000, has the 2nd largest county population in far northwestern Iowa.
Nevertheless, I don't know what kind of marketing work is behind these projects & how it indicates that there is sufficient demand to support this size & type of development in Sheldon.
Good, well established retail centers are already nearby in Spencer & Worthington while much larger retail offerings are found not too far away in Sioux City & Sioux Falls.
Can the op provide a link to news of the project announcement from the local media or a project web site? I did not find any.

[Jaguarsuckbad]

I believe lots of people traveling down highway 60 would appreciate having more restaurants to choose from. Right now, I believe there is only a McDonalds, Taco Johns, and a Pizza Restaurant located next to the Sheldon exit. I don't believe there are any other restaurants located close the highway between Sioux City and Worthington. In fact, I believe there is only one truck stop located between those two cities too and that's in Sibley, so a fuel stop with a restaurant would do well in Sheldon.


If the apartments are affordable, I believe they will have no problem filling those up. With the college in town, I think these would be a great place for students to live, especially if they want a part time job at the outlet center while they're going to school. There's also a lot of young families in Sheldon having a hard time finding quality affordable housing.


Walmart would do well in Sheldon. I'm afraid Shopko would probably go out of business though, along with several of the stores downtown, if it's really Walmart that's coming. I'm not a big fan of Walmart, but I'm also not a fan of having to running all the way to Sioux Center, Spencer, or Worthington to get what I need. Plus, I'd imagine Walmart would create more jobs than the jobs that we'd lose from other stores closing.


As for the outlet center itself, it will probably do well. Many outlet centers have been built around the country in small towns like Sheldon. Some have really taken off and have become a destination for shopping while others haven't been so successful. If the center is successful, I imagine the two planned hotels would do well. I think they could use more hotels close to highway 60 anyway.


This definitely sounds like exciting times in Sheldon. It will be fun to see how things play out and how much the town will change. I think most of this development will bring positive things to Sheldon, although I'm afraid of what might happen to the downtown. It could dry up or it could get re-invented into a fun little area with antique and gift stores, small cafes, pubs, coffee houses, ice cream parlor, etc., all of which wouldn't be in competition with the businesses located at the outlet center.

[funksoulbro]

Originally Posted by Jaguarsuckbad

As for the outlet center itself, it will probably do well. Many outlet centers have been built around the country in small towns like Sheldon. Some have really taken off and have become a destination for shopping while others haven't been so successful. If the center is successful, I imagine the two planned hotels would do well. I think they could use more hotels close to highway 60 anyway.

This all goes back to the issue of traffic counts. Yes, small towns (some smaller than Sheldon) have seen wildly successful outlet malls thrive in their communities. Such towns, however, are located along extremely busy interstate highways...like Williamsburg is along I-80. Sheldon isn't getting nearly the volume of traffic, and the town isn't big enough by itself to support such a large outlet center in addition to a Wal-Mart.

The lack of interstate of access would probably keep many potential visitors from Sioux City and Sioux Falls away as well. Williamsburg is a quick and easy drive from Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Des Moines. And, those are all metros with a substantially larger combined population than Sioux City or Sioux Falls.

Hotels aren't going to build along a highway with few cars, and a strip mall with few visitors. This project sounds more like a pie-in-the-sky proposal than anything grounded in economic reality.

Originally Posted by Jaguarsuckbad

This definitely sounds like exciting times in Sheldon. It will be fun to see how things play out and how much the town will change. I think most of this development will bring positive things to Sheldon, although I'm afraid of what might happen to the downtown. It could dry up or it could get re-invented into a fun little area with antique and gift stores, small cafes, pubs, coffee houses, ice cream parlor, etc., all of which wouldn't be in competition with the businesses located at the outlet center.

If a Wal-Mart Supercenter goes into Sheldon, whatever is left of their downtown will be decimated within a year. Those places are notorious for killing the "Mom & Pop's" which constitute most small-town central business districts. There won't be room for a Wal-Mart and a thriving downtown in a city the size Sheldon.

[ShIa6018]

The development in Sheldon is expect to have up to 80 upscale brand and designer factory outlet retailers. So far, interest has been strong with 65% of the outlet center already pre-leased. The big box store is not Walmart. It's actually several furniture factory outlet stores under one roof. When completed, this development is expected to create up to 750 full and part-time jobs, and generate over 7 million in tax revenue annually. That's a pretty big deal for a town like Sheldon. More details about this development will be announced soon.

[duster1979]

I'm not going to believe any of this until someone posts a link to a source article. There's absolutely nothing on the web about this. It seems like it would be just a little bit newsworthy for that part of the state.